So isn't it odd that now that the elections are over

[malaise]

Gas prices keep falling and the hacks are telling us inflation isn’t what they said it was.
Hmmmmmmmm!

[FalloutShelter]

1. I'M SHOCKED!

Shocked, I tell you.

[gab13by13]

2. Isn't it odd,

that that right wing rag, The Hill, has Warnock/Walker a dead heat?

[malaise]

6. What's not odd is that the hacks are repeating the shit again

It's either they never learn or they have an agenda. Hmmmmm!

[SouthernDem4ever]

92. They are keeping that BS narrative going in Georgia

Until the runoff is over. I am really sick of their lying commercials.

[gratuitous]

3. And store shelves are fully stocked, too

It's a puzzlement!

[malaise]

7. Evil fucks are everywhere

pushing an agenda

[BlackSkimmer]

40. No. They're not. I just came from the store.

And I’ve not noticed that inflation has diminished either.

[soldierant]

74. and 77 yeas old to boot ...

but I read this morning in a newsletter from The 19th Magazine that getting baby formula still has issues.

[Raine]

79. Not the stores shelves in my area

still shortages, items hard to find.

[hibbing]

4. I keep looking while on the bus to work

Was 3.55 for the longest dang time and strangely enough, it has dropped 20 cents this week. Of course the prices are high in my city because one person pretty much has a monopoly on fuel.

Peace

[malaise]

9. Not strange

Orchestrated

[Hiawatha Pete]

13. +1. Like the mystical "debt clock" that magically disappeared in Nov of 2016. n/t

[malaise]

18. Remember that one

And just so it vanished

[wnylib]

46. Happens during elections pretty regularly.

Up before elections, down afterward.

[onenote]

51. It also happens in non-election years.

See post #48.

[ChazII]

20. $3.64 in my city of Scottsdale. n/t

[allegorical oracle]

27. It's $3.31 today in my area of N Fla. Keep waiting for DeSatan to take credit. n/t

[Historic NY]

60. 3.15 here in the Hudson Valley, but not all places....

This guy is regularly driving down the price for months a he was 50-60 belong the area stations and still is. Another tanker unloading today. He is cornering the market by selling volume

[Beachnutt]

71. $2.67 Arlington Tx

[ms liberty]

5. And the crime problem drastically improved, too!

[malaise]

10. They can only fool some of the people

some of the time.

[malthaussen]

24. Some of the people all of the time...

... but I'm not convinced they're really "fooling" them, just that some people find their lies expedient.

-- Mal

[OldBaldy1701E]

67. And profitable! (n/t)

[Joe Nation]

11. And Hunter Biden's laptop seems to have become a non-issue on Fox.

Hum?

[Ford_Prefect]

14. You don't suppose they were threatened over copywrite infringement?

[rubbersole]

16. When the FBI found the 30,000 deleted emails...

..when they raided Mar a Lardo, they probably found Hunter's laptop with the Rosetta Stone of radical liberalism in the first line of code. Faux News then had a collective head explosion and they have to find replacements for their nazi talking heads.

[malaise]

19. ROFL

[orthoclad]

68. Ah, the radiclibs!

Shades of Spiro!

We haven't had someone so elegant since then.

Signed,
Nattering Nabob of Negativism

[republianmushroom]

12. Yep

[Probatim]

15. And crime is no longer an issue.

[Joinfortmill]

17. Yeah, we need investigative journalism.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

21. I'm confused here...

Are we saying corporations purposely set gas prices high in order to hurt Democrats? Isn't their primary goal to make money? If they could set prices high before the midterms, why wouldn't they set prices high right now?

[malaise]

25. I wish more Americans would study how Western interests overthrow governments

across the globe.
That is all

[BlackSkimmer]

42. But people here were giving Biden credit for falling gas prices just a short time ago.

[malaise]

44. Post- Covid there we're real issues with the distribution of goods

Last edited Fri Dec 2, 2022, 11:45 AM - Edit history (1)

and clearing of docks but sabotage is also real.

[BlackSkimmer]

65. Um, had to decipher that, but really didn't answer my point anyway.

I wasn’t talking about the supply chain.

[malthaussen]

26. No, I don't think that's the case...

... rather, politicians find it expedient to accuse the government of the high prices that the companies set. When there is no longer a need for that, because the elections are over, then the claim is forgotten. Well, not "forgotten," actually, just relegated to the reserves until the next election cycle.

-- Mal

[BlueCheeseAgain]

29. I don't know.

The OP and many responses clearly believe that the prices were part of some grand plan.

[wnylib]

50. There's a pattern of this happening,

not only this year, but in other elections, too.

[calimary]

57. And don't ever forget: that bunch will do ANYTHING to win.

Usually it means figuring out how, where, and when to put a thumb on the scale to make sure the outcome is favorable to their side.

The Republican strategy:
If you can’t win fair ‘n’ square, then CHEAT.

And we must NEVER forget that. Always expect the worst from them, and you’ll never be surprised and/or disappointed.

[Farmer-Rick]

34. Yeah... that's price fixing which the oil cartels do on a regular basis.

OPEC is nothing but a price fixing group and I suspect a lot of backroom deals with the 4 major gas companies in the US. They don't do it all the time because it will make folks move more quickly to renewables. We could get energy for free right now if we worked out the rare minerals issues.

On paper it is the corporate goal to make a profit but ask Fox how much money they lost this year. Also Twitter has yet to make a profit, but Musk bought it up for billions.

Premiere Radio Networks lost hundreds of millions every year on Rush Limpball's contract but it didn't seem to bother them.

So, making a profit isn't really always their goal.

I really don't understand how, for example Twitter, can continue to show a loss yet people want to buy and own it. It amazes me how many corporations show a loss at the end of the year and yet they are considered successful.

[ProfessorGAC]

54. While I Agree...

...the issue still unexplained is gas prices staying for weeks after crude prices fell substantially.
One.of the biggest economic mistakes in modern times was market commoditizing refined product. This eliminated any incentive for refiners to compete on price.
Now, price manipulation in an under-regulated market regularly takes place and the refiners are lucky beneficiaries of high prices. They make extra money without having to do anything better than they already do.

[certainot]

101. radio is THE republican buzz driver and the only reason the elections were close. INFLATION! CRIME!

IMMIGRATION! GAS PRICES! was the mantra for 1500 radio stations the last few months and i'll bet it's now back to hunter biden, the right for all americans to buy assault weapons, save the NRA, build the wall, trump is great, hillary Clinton and soros eat babies, etc

[orthoclad]

69. Not just gas prices

About 50% of "inflation" can be traced to record corporate profits.

Corporations were hoping to weaken regulation-friendly Democrats. They succeeded somewhat. But there are at least some news articles blaming high prices on gouging, so they can step back on the gouging a bit, in order to protect long-term interests and avoid windfall tax agitation, as well as anti-trust enforcement. Can't be too blatant.

[SlimJimmy]

78. You have a good point. But, JFC, I'm just so tired of this.

Corporations don't set the price of gas, the world market sets the price of oil, and the refinement of gas is based on that. When the price of oil goes down per barrel (on the world market) then the price of gas goes down as well. Our government has been using the SPR to supplement the oil supply on the world market, and therefore has kept the price of oil down. That's about to change.

[flying_wahini]

22. Well I'm pleased. Really I am. However food prices continue to climb.

Almost everything has gone up AGAIN. (Since the summer)
A pot roast that is barely enough for 3 adults is $38. Half a days pay for $7.25 hr.
Chicken breasts on the bone is 3pk for $16. That is two hours at minimum wage here in Texas.

I’m feeling sorry for the families who are struggling to put good food on the table.
Politics or not; some families are struggling.
I’m just afraid this will come back on the Dems;
Starting to worry about any more unforeseen
Issues (think RR strike).

[BlackSkimmer]

43. I know, I went to the store today.

Inflation is still happening. Nothing has dropped. Even water is going up.

[Moostache]

66. I would expect that red meat pricing won't be getting lower again...

There are very real climate issues to raising cattle in the numbers we have been for decades that combine with the pressures from other countries wanting a more "American-Diet" that make it very likely prices for beef won't be going back to pre-pandemic levels any time soon, if ever again for many of us.

I am more worried about the Russian situation and what is going to happen in January when the lunatics in the GOP decide to start torpedoing international support for Ukraine and make Putin emboldened to threaten use of nukes to drag that bloodbath on and threaten European security. I know it was a different time and context, but the saying "If you're NOT terrified, you're not paying attention" seems to be disturbingly apt once more...

[Farmer-Rick]

109. The way we raise vegetable and other types of foods is just as bad

Drenched with chemicals like round up, planted in fertilizers dug up and processed out of the ground in concentration so high that run off kills our marine and fresh water wildlife.

Insect life is noticably declining due to the poisonous insecticides we drench out vegetables, fruits and nuts with. Corporate farming has got to go. We can raise food without killing off our planet.

[AllaN01Bear]

23. not really . as u said planned . tried to make biden and democrats look bad.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

30. So why are prices down now?

Do oil companies no longer want to make as much money?

[Meadowoak]

62. oil companies know better than to keep gas prices high for too long.

they know that people will go to EVs or find other ways to commute. This last hike was only to influence the midterms in concert with the media telling us how mad we are at the democrats over high gas prices.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

64. If you look at the price of gas over the last year, it doesn't look like something timed...

They hit a high in June and then slid all the way to September.

[LT Barclay]

70. I think this game has been going on for a while now. I think they also backed off to avoid

completely crashing the economy which would cost them in the long run.
I'd think this would be a great topic for John Oliver, comparing gas price cycles to elections. It appears to me that prices stabilize or drop when republicans are in control also. Then they climb some after the election (if they win).

[onenote]

83. John Oliver is smart enough to know that the price of gas drops almost every year around December

Whether it is an election year or not.


See post #56 for the reasons, which aren't political.

[world wide wally]

28. It worked well enough to get them the House

[AllyCat]

31. And yet my town is 20/gallon more than surrounding communities

Because nearly every gas station is owned by one, right-leaning, Union-busting corporation.

[samsingh]

32. the system is corrupt in favor of the traitorous republicans

[Septua]

33. Crude oil prices are down

I don't keep up with it daily but just now Googled.


https://oilprice.com/oil-price-charts/#WTI-Crude

[sarcasmo]

35. No more crime ads during NFL games to scare the white folks

[KPN]

36. Isn't it though. But we've got them running. Both the Reich wing and the

free for-the-taking market capitalists are spooked. On balance, they are losing of late.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

37. Biden moving economic levers takes time for effect, esp since don't want to overdo it

Fed Reserve and government don't "coordinate", but they do keep close tabs on each other's actions.

[iemanja]

81. Was his fault when the prices were high?

If not, how can he get the credit for lower prices? What about the price of butter? Is that his doing too?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

84. You have fallen into a logical fallacy

For example, Republiconnners raise the deficit. Democrats lower it. That does not mean Democrats can't get credit for lowering it just because they didn't raise it.

[iemanja]

85. I'm not the one falling into a logical fallacy

The whole argument makes exactly zero sense. If you want to credit Biden for lowering gas prices--through some mysterious voodoo control over global markets that you haven't made an effort to explain--then you have to blame him when they are high. You can't have it both ways. The fact is global oil and gas markets have their own logic and our politics and our lives just aren't that important to them. The entire argument hinges on a kind of ethnocentrism only Americans are capable of displaying.

The articles about the lower gas prices are crediting a decline in demand. You know, supply and demand?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

86. No. YOU want to have it both ways. You think it is all or nothing, which is ANOTHER fallacy.

Biden did not singlehandedly or mainly or totally cause gas prices to drop. For one thing, he released petroleum from the reserve.

He didn't raise prices by putting petroleum in.


When you cut the grass, that is one way. You aren't responsible for the photosynthesis that grew it.

[iemanja]

87. How?

Explain to me how Biden all by his lonesome totally disrupted global gas markets.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

88. That's your 2nd logical fallacy. All-or-nothing. I claimed no such thing, no "lonesome", "no "totall

You are not seriously debating with such cheap tactics as to pretend I said anything like that.

[iemanja]

108. Give me a break

I asked you a simple question. How did Biden make oil and gas prices fall.? That shouldn't be so difficult for you, except you clearly have no answer. Your argument doesn't hold, and it isn't based on logic at all.

[moose65]

38. Very odd

I live in an area that usually has higher gas prices than surrounding counties, since we are a vacation and skiing destination. Today, my county has the lowest regular average gas price of any county in NC - 2.96.

Remember those "caravans of migrants" who were headed to the US right before the 2020 election? Yeah, they disappeared too!

Also, Antifa suddenly isn't destroying cities any longer! Go figure.....

[blueinredohio]

39. I told my husband that would happen after the election.

[onenote]

82. Given that it happens virtually every December, election or no election, that was a safe prediction.

[blueinredohio]

91. In other words

don't get your panties in a bunch

[DENVERPOPS]

41. The Republicans

pulled the EXACT same thing on Carter 40+ years ago.......

[onecaliberal]

45. Sad pathetic schtick. It's all they have. You'd think people would already know.

[ffr]

47. And CNN has decided that now is the time to lay off their muckrakers.

Hmmmmmmmm!

[onenote]

48. Nope. It's not odd that gas prices drop in Nov/Dec compared to Sept/Oct. In fact, its very common.

They do it almost every year, no matter who is in the White House or controls Congress.

Sorry to burst your balloon.

Compare September prices to December prices for each year since 2012. In almost every instance, the price was higher in September than in December.

https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/APU000074714

[IronLionZion]

52. Why is that?

I would expect more oil is used in winter for heating, shipping, and travel around holiday times.

[onenote]

56. Demand for gasoline is lower in the winter months than in the spring and summer.

Yes, there is a spike in travel around Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it doesn't compare to the spike that occurs starting with Memorial Day and running through Labor Day -- lots of people traveling for vacations all through those months.

And we're only talking about gasoline prices -- not oil heating. It's hardly a shock that demand -- and the price for -- heating oil goes up in the winter compared to the summer.

There are other factors that regularly impact the price of gasoline on a seasonal basis. For example, the EPA defines April to June as the “transition season” for fuel production. Refineries lead this transition and switch over to summer-blend production in March and April.

Gasoline blends used in the summer months are different than the blends used in the winter. There are also more fuels to produce during the transition season. In the winter months, only a few fuels are used across the United States. However, because of various state or regional requirements, over a dozen different fuel specifications are required for the summer months. Refineries must produce enough for each area to ensure there are no supply shortages, and that can complicate the production and distribution of fuels.
Finally, summer-blend fuel is also more expensive to make than winter-blend fuel. First, the production process takes longer and, second, the overall yield of gasoline per barrel of oil is lower. These complexities add as much as 15 cents per gallon to the cost to produce these higher-grade fuels.

It's a far more complex market than most people understand. And that's not taking into account the impact of other events -- wars, natural disasters, refinery accidents, OPEC's ups and downs, etc.

[IronLionZion]

49. My bus fare has been the same

I'd like to see airline prices come down.

[ColinC]

53. Yes. Yes it is.

Literally the day after the election, there were multiple reports of inflation “easing.”

Quite interesting indeed 🤔

[tishaLA]

55. And the stories about runaway crime have virtually disappeared.

[IronLionZion]

61. Maybe criminals had a change of heart over Thanksgiving

remembering all they are thankful for, like COVID vaccines and plentiful jobs

[Bonx]

58. CT we can cheer for

[cstamm53]

59. Did Anyone Mention Gas Prices?

Gas prices plunge to lowest level since February (ABC News)

[lambchopp59]

63. Fuel price drops, but here comes Xmess

Along with the egregious gouging they'll be raping holiday travelers over the oil barrel. I have a long drive to see my doctor just before Xmess I'm certain to cry at the California gas pumps enroute.
I'd bet the hoardes of "illegals" crossing the border reports on Fox Noise have likely disappeared as well, just like the "migrant caravans" did, just magically after prior elections.
I don't expect Fox and other RWNJ media to change it's hatemongering strategy, somehow the nightmare visions of MAGA's prone, stone cold dead in front of their teevee's with Jesse Watters pounding his fist frustrated he failed to incite enough hatred of President Biden having finally done some of them in... (I'm not kidding, in some Farron Balanced clip he actually expressed that!)

[BradAllison]

72. I'm waiting to run into "concerned voters"....

....Who are angry the red wave didn't come because of elevated gas prices.

[live love laugh]

73. Kooky conspiracy theories related to Republicans are often true.

[Ferrets are Cool]

75. I was told that I was a conspiracy theorist to speak such heresy.

[malaise]

76. LOL

😀😀

[Kid Berwyn]

77. Wall Street is Bullish again.

The S&P 500 is on the cusp of breaking through a level that might spell the end of the bear market

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-s-p-500-is-on-the-cusp-of-breaking-through-a-level-that-might-spell-the-end-of-the-bear-market-11669924124

[malaise]

89. Hilarious indeed

[iemanja]

80. The GOP doesn't control the price of gas

Everything isn't a fucking conspiracy.

It's amazing that you all rightfully defended Biden as responsible for high gas prices yet think nothing of attributing their fall to some nefarious MAGA conspiracy. International markets have their own logic, and our politics isn't as important to the world as you all seem to think. Why is it Americans can't conceive of a world that doesn't revolve around them?

[GoodRaisin]

90. Yeah, quite the coincidence.

But that’s usually when the bullshit takes a hard stop. Kinda like how Hillary’s emails just went away…

[Mr. Ected]

93. Read that the crime coverage on FOX has decreased 50% since the election

At some point, wouldn't some of the more self-aware zombies on the right realize that they're being manipulated?

[malaise]

95. Sheeple will be sheeple

😀

[uponit7771]

98. +1, while MAGA threatens basic rights of Americans

[betsuni]

94. Press is all about how everybody's shopping and happy.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

96. I said from the beginning that big oil was raising the price of gas

to help defeat Democrats in the midterms, and that any other explanation was blahblahblah bullshit.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Nationalize big oil. They are economic terrorists, and are an immediate threat and clear and present danger to our democracy and the safety and security of the people of the United States.

[malaise]

97. I remember the first time I read about the Seven Sisters

Yes big oil has big power

[Emile]

99. It's always been Predatory Capitalism out to destroy President Biden.

[DFW]

100. We are pretty steady at about $7.80 per gallon here

I.e. about €1.96 per liter.

[jonstl08]

102. In my area

In my area starting on the Friday and weekend before the election gas prices went up about 30-40cents per gallon. Right after the election they dropped and have been dropping every day since 11/8. Tell me the oil companies were not trying to influence voters.

[malaise]

104. Interesting

Where are you?

[jonstl08]

105. Missouri

Southwest St. Louis County MO

[malaise]

106. Thanks

[mathematic]

103. Gas prices and inflation have been falling since June. In America, elections are held in November nt

[Kath2]

107. It is amazing but predictable.

Never believed any of it and voted Dem the whole way!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

110. FG still can make things happen on a world stage level